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This Beauty Brand Is Celebrating Women’s Day In The Truest Form Possible

As a woman, what would you define as empowering? Knowing what you want and not being afraid to achieve it? Wearing that cropped top, even though that measly magazine tells you your tummy isn’t flat enough for it? Walking out the house without makeup and still feeling good about yourself? Or even wearing that bold red lip colour, giving you a sense of fearlessness?

There are several ways in which we feel empowered, as small as they might be…these cheap thrills make us feel good about ourselves, and there is no shame in them whatsoever.

Embracing yourself, even though it might not match up to societal norms, is what it’s all about. And that’s what Dove is all about, breaking norms and redefining the very idea of beauty.

Since 2004, Dove has been one of the only beauty brands that advocate ‘real beauty’ — this being part of its brand slogan too. Staying committed to its motto, it has always believed that real women need to be celebrated, rather than the ‘idealistic and perfect’ woman that societal beauty standards call for. And this message has come across through various campaigns, including the ‘Campaign for Real Beauty’, ‘Real Beauty Sketches’, and ‘Dove Self-Esteem’ projects.

Dove has always attempted to connect with its audience, giving them real solutions, using real faces, real people, and realistic beauty standards, and this time around, it has stepped up its women’s empowerment game by teaming up with ace international photographer Mario Testino. So what is this campaign all about?

To celebrate its 60th anniversary, Dove, along with Testino, has photographed 30 women from across 13 different countries, ranging from 11 to 71 years old, including 3 real women from India.

This has been done in order to reassure and reaffirm its pledge to stretch out the boundaries and revamp the definition of beauty. Pledging to ‘show women as they are in real’ and refraining from digitally manipulating photos to match up to standards, this aims to help young girls strengthen their self-esteem and self-confidence and love themselves for who they are.

Featuring women from various backgrounds, this campaign is definitely meant to send out a positive message. Mario Testino told Vogue UK, “A lot of them didn’t know it was me who was taking the pictures right up until the last minute, and they got really emotional when they found out. It was really touching for me.”

We all know that expectations from beauty labels are set high. According to the Dove Global Beauty and Confidence Report 2016, 86% of girls in India are proud to be female, while 64% of girls wish our media portrayal was a lot more physically diverse.

To be honest, us women who actually use these products aren’t quite like the ones you see in the ad campaigns. We aren’t a size 0, hourglass figured, flawless skinned silhouettes of perfection. We each have our own product packaging and it’s high time we accept that there is no ‘ideal’ reflection of beauty.